Day 8 (21 September)

Day 8 (21 September)

2018. September 21. Friday 09:48

‘Girls Always Happy’ starts at 4 pm in the Pressburger room. The film portrays a single mother living with her daughter in a Beijing Hutong. Looking at the contemporary urban life with a novel perspective, the film represents the spectacle of mutual repulsion, hatred, and harm between a single mother-daughter, and yet from their despair grows the power of tender love. The complexity indicates the unique observation and expression of the director Yang Mingming on female relationships. The screening is followed by Q&A.

At 4 pm in the Zukor room runs the repetition of ‘Wildlife’ that has been a great success in Cannes.

We are in Montana in the 1960s. A thoughtful boy named Joe watches the catastrophic marital crisis of his parents: Jeanette (Carey Mulligan), a stay-at-home mom, and Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), who works at a golf course. “It is a coming-of-age story for all three: mother, father, and son,” says Dano.

At 5 pm in the Uránia runs Péter Tímás masterpiece ‘Moziklip’. The 1987 movie offers a chance to peek into the music videos of the 80s and the music of the era too.

At 6:30 in the Zukor room we get the chance to watch the Chinese thriller ‘Kill the Shadow’. 28-years old Zhang robs a CIT-vehicle. The police are after him, past and present get mixed up and he loses the money.

Japanese audiences traditionally love a good cry and nothing supplies one like a young protagonist dying lingeringly and romantically. That would seem to be the case with The 8-year Engagement, Zeze Takahisa’s drama about a young woman who falls ill with a rare form of brain inflammation and lapses into coma just three months before her planned wedding. The ‘8-Year Engagement’ premieres at 7 pm in the Pressburger-room. It’s based on a real-life case that became a YouTube sensation and then a best-selling novel.

At 7 pm in the Uránia we can have a good laugh by watching a Hungarian classic. By screening ‘Sparrows are birds too’ from 1968 we pay tribute to István Hildebrand. In 1953 Sándor Holló cunningly joins a bike race and bikes out of the country. His twin, Zoltán, an unappreciated inventor, stays in Hungary. When Sándor returns for a visit and Zoltán starts using his brother’s passport and stamp all hell breaks loose… After the film, at 9 pm we can watch Tibor Kocsis’ documentary on István Hildebrand.

At 7 pm in the Béke screening room we can watch the nominees of the Attila Dargay-prize, followed by the second selection of the CineNewWave program from 8 pm.

At 9 pm in the Zukor room starts Alexey German Jr’s ‘Dovlatov’. The film makes use of grand tableaux and extended tracking shots to portray the world of Russian-Jewish writer Sergei Dovlatov (1941–1990), whose brilliantly ironic texts were forbidden from being printed in the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. Out of a tragicomic rondeau of rebellion and assimilation, pain and fatigue, ensues a portrait of an era of stagnation and its destructive effects.

At 9:30 pm in the Pressburger room Timur Bekmambetov new film, ‘Profile’ starts. The director went from Hollywood super-productions to indie filmmaking in this minimalist thriller. It follows journalist Amy as she investigates the Islamic State’s recruitment of girls from Europe. She sets up a fake Facebook account and pretends to be a radical Muslim. She is contacted by Bilel, a key figure inside ISIS, and manages to earn his trust. Soon Amy can no longer tell the difference between the real world and virtual reality, thus placing herself in ever greater danger.

At 10 pm in the Béke room runs the New Zealander feature from the competition program. ‘Stray’ takes us to a cold and remote landscape where two strangers struggle to repair their broken pasts. A young man is on parole after serving time for attempting to murder the man who killed his girlfriend in a hit and run. A woman is released from a psychiatric facility far from her homeland. These two damaged strangers cross paths in the mountains in winter and fall into a complex intimate relationship, putting to the test their capacity to trust and heal.

At 11 pm in the Uránia room runs an American feature from the competition program, the ‘Madeline’s Madeline’. Sometimes Madeline is a cat, sometimes a turtle. But even when she’s Madeline, it’s hard to tell if she’s just playing the role of Madeline. In the eyes of her anxious mother she is a vulnerable creature whose obvious mental disorder requires care and medical treatment. But on stage, at the theatre workshop run by the extremely demanding, sometimes even reckless Evangeline, Madeline is strong, impressive – a force of nature.

At 11:30 in the Pressburger room we get the chance to watch ‘The Field Guide to Evil’. The film brings us stories from the folklore of different countries. Hungary is represented by the English director, Peter Strickland, who has worked in the country several times before. Csenge Zalka folklorist and story-teller helped him to choose a dark piece of Hungarian folktales. In the story two brothers fight for the affection of a princess. The older one tells her that his brother has fallen in love with someone else. The news breaks the princess’ heart and leaves her dead. But in the middle of the night she returns to take vengeance…

At midnight in Béke the sixth selection of the “Meeting of Festivals”program is showed, this time with nine shorts screened at the Filmtett Feszt Erdélyi Magyar Filmszemle.